Defining Inclusive Participation of Children in Finnish Welfare Policy

Abstract This chapter examines how children and young people’s inclusive participation (in Finnish osallisuus ) is defined in Finnish publications aimed at professionals, decision-makers, officials, and academics. The purpose is to examine and analyse the most common ways of defining inclusive participation, the meanings assigned to it, and the basis of the definitions. The analysed publications are produced by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Altogether 35 publications were chosen for data-driven analysis. The results provide an understanding of inclusive participation as an ambiguous and unclearly defined concept, with primarily positive connotations. In many of the analysed publications, inclusive participation is used as a rhetorical concept, with the aim of amplifying other professional goals. Moreover, the use of the concept is often not based on empirical material. The chapter concludes by asking whether the vocabulary of inclusive participation is familiar to children or if it is more a concept used and understood by professionals.